While Gordon Ramsay might be the face – and mouth – of Hell's Kitchen, he's not the only person on the show who's there to brow beat the contestants into either excellence or a quivering jelly-like pile of nerves. Ramsay also has his sous chefs Scott Liebfried and MaryAnn Salcedo, who aren't exactly the warm and fuzzy nurturing kind in their interactions with the chef contestants either.

In Gordon Ramsay's recent conference call about the next season of Hell's Kitchen, he didn't mention if those two will be returning, but MaryAnn, at least, is starting a new role and making some comments about Hell's Kitchen that indicate the third season might have been the chef's last.

MaryAnn has a culinary arts degree from the Institute for Culinary Education. She's also been Head Chef at Green Street Café and Executive Sous Chef at Rene Pujol Restaurant in New York, Executive Chef at Harvest Valley Restaurant and Caminito Argentinean Restaurant in Massachusetts, in New York City. She was also Executive Chef at Citizen Smith in Hollywood, CA.

She is now taking on a new role at NeoMeze in Pasadena, and talking about her time on Hell's Kitchen in a way that doesn't sound promising for her return. She does say that working with Gordon Ramsay was an honor, but that she found attempting to “teach waffle-house cooks” (a reference to third season chef contestant Julia Williams) absurd.

MaryAnn's new restaurant was called one of CitySearch's top seven fusion restaurants in L.A. What can you expect if you head out to the Hell's Kitchen alum's new gig?

MaryAnn said that her previous experience "contributed to [her] philosophy of showcasing high-quality ingredients, uncompromised by excessive embellishments…When you have a great piece of Kobe beef, you don't have to dress it up in a hat or suit and tie."

- Leslie Seaton, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: Pasadena Weekly, ABC Local
(Image courtesy of Fox)